The nomination of federal District Judge Sonia Sotomayor, of Puerto Rican descent, as President Barack Obama's choice to fill a U.S. Supreme Court vacancy is rightly a matter of pride for Hispanics, in general, and Puerto Rican women, specifically.
But how do you feel about Sotomayor if you are Puerto Rican woman who happens to be a Republican, given the mounting partisan opposition to her selection?
I asked Angelette Aviles, a marketing consultant in Tampa and a member of the Republican Party of Florida's Hispanic Leadership Council.
"I've been digesting stuff [about Sotomayor] just as much as everyone else," Aviles told me in the first few days after the nomination was announced last week. "My first reaction as a Puerto Rican was a sense of pride. Us Puerto Ricans are a prideful people. It's just the way we are. I bet they throw her a parade there."
Aviles understands the pride for a minority community that comes with such a selection.
"I remember I was in high school and Clarence Thomas was nominated and confirmed, and I was growing up in D.C. in a desegregated school. and there was a great sense of pride," she said. "A lot of young people will look at her and say, wow she can do it so can I."
But ...
"I may not agree with where she stands," Aviles continued. And she cited Sotomayor's 2001 statement that "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion [as a judge] than a white male who hasn't lived that life."
Aviles said, "Someone in her position has got to be careful how she says things like that. I can probably agree that anyone from any ethnic background grows up with different perspectives. But when it comes to someone who is a judge, they should lay that aside. I can see in a sense where Sotomayor is coming from. [But] if you switch those words around, if you say a white man would make a better decision than a latino man, that would make the news big time."
Aviles added that "identity politics" is commonplace but asserted that Republicans suffer more in the news media on such ethnic issues.
"We're called panderers if we appoint a minority, but when it comes to Democrats, nothing is said," Aviles said. "And if we don't act on something [concerning minority communities], we're called insensitive."
